Vladmir Lenin
Vladmir Lenin is one of the most significant revolutionary thinkers and a leading politician in the 20th C. He is the architect of the taking over power by Bolshevik in 1917, in Russia. He was born on 22nd of April in 1870 to a family that is well educated. At school, Lenin excelled. He went to study law at the university where he began thinking in a radical manner. His views and perceptions were also affected by his elder brother who was executed, since he was a member of an extremist group. Due to Lenin’s radical policies, he was expelled from the university. However, he was able to finish his studies as an external student and became a professional revolutionary at St. Petersburg where he had moved to. Like many of his revolutionary politicians at the time, the government arrested and took him to exile in Serbia where he got married. While in Serbia, he managed to become one of the most prominent figures of an international revolution. He brought the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. He died aged 54 due to brain hemorrhage (Black, 39).
Lenin believed in Marxism and strongly propagated his revolutionary ideologies. He believed that force was necessary in the fight against capitalism by communists. He believed that such revolutions are followed by, at the very first stage, dictatorship of the proletariat. This facilitates movement towards communism. Lenin convinced most of the Marxists to embrace his ideology that rejected moral absolutism (Lenin, 52).
Lenin was also an internationalist and fully backed world revolution. He strongly believed that revolutionary socialism will automatically lead to a merging of nations and finally a world state. He was thus against federalism and strongly advocated for a unitary state that is centralized (Lenin, 17)
He was against imperialism and strongly believed in the freedom to self-determination. In this sense, he strongly supported the national wars of liberation that he termed as necessary for the minority groups in order to do away with socialist states.
Lenin was also propagated Semitism. He said that the enemies of the people in the Russian empire are the capitalists and not the Jews. According to him, amongst the Jews were hardworking people. To him, the working people amongst the Jews formed the majority. They should, therefore, be seen as brothers and sisters who are oppressed by capitalism.
Lenin also believed in democracy of the majority. Lenin criticized the kind of democracy exercised in the United States and referred to it as a sham of the capitalist.
Works Cited:
Black M. The Evolution of Positivism. Modern Quarterly, vol. 1. No. 1. London 1938.
Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. XIII, International Publishers. New York 1927: p. 291.
Lenin. Aus dem Philosophischen Nachlass, Randglossen. German ed. Berlin, 1932.
